Daughter - Touring Package

Touring Booklet

Show Description

FULL LENGTH

It’s the show that rocked Canada. The show that started a thousand conversations. The show that faces toxic masculinity head on, distilling it into the figure of one very funny, very engaging, very troubled man. Adam Lazarus is The Father, and he’s got a story to tell. Taking you through his journey into manhood and his struggles as a dad, he touches on love, lust, violence, and more. In his account of desire and remorse you’ll recognize problems we’re all trying to face—within society and perhaps, for some of us, within ourselves.

Daughter has earned raves for its candour, its daring, and its powerhouse solo performance. Riveting from start to finish, it’s a public display that has the feel of an intimate, desperate confession. You could see it as a cry for help—but the need it speaks to belongs to more than one solitary man. At some moments in this show you may laugh, at others you may nod your head in agreement, at others you may recoil in shock. Lazarus, Canada’s Bouffon king, presents himself as a subject for our amusement, our dismay and, finally, our judgement.

100 WORDS-ISH

The show that rocked Canada, sparking a thousand conversations with its head-on confrontation of toxic masculinity. Adam Lazarus plays The Father and he’s done bad things in his life. Taking you through his struggles with love, lust and violence, he presents himself as a figure for our amusement, dismay, and judgement. This is a riveting solo performance – a public display of an intimate, desperate confession. Hilarious, appalling and confrontational, Daughter is a show that leaves its mark. You may laugh, recoil, or find yourself doing both at once. One thing’s for sure: you won’t forget what you’ve seen.

50 WORDS-ISH

In the show that rocked Canada, leaving audiences aghast and earning raves from critics, Adam Lazarus presents himself as a loving father and a man with a very dark past. Amusing, appalling and utterly riveting, this show about toxic masculinity will leave its mark on you.

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Archival

Press Kit &Press Clippings

Adam Lazarus is an award-winning theatre creator, actor, director, and acting instructor whose work has been showcased nationally, in the United States, and in Europe. Hailed as “Toronto’s favourite nasty clown”, and “the bouffon king”, he brings a dark and comic sensibility to all of his work. An sessional acting instructor at the National Theatre School of Canada, Pig Iron Theatre’s School for Performance, the Sibiu International Theatre Festival, and the University of Toronto, Adam was the founder and artistic director of the Toronto Festival of Clowns for ten years, and is a graduate of and former apprentice to Master Teacher Philippe Gaulier. In the fall of 2016, he launched the theatre training centre, www.playontheatre.ca. Adam lives in Toronto with his wife Sarah, and their two children, Josephine and Oliver.

Ann-Marie Kerr is an award-winning theatre director, actor and teacher. Her work has been presented nationally and internationally including: The Globe Theatre (Regina), Neptune Theatre (Halifax), Alberta Theatre Projects (Calgary), Festival TransAmériques (Montreal), Under the Radar (NYC), 2b theatre company (Halifax); High Performance Rodeo (Calgary); Magnetic North Theatre Festival (Canada), Theatre Centre (Toronto); Soulpepper Theatre Company (Toronto), Luminato Festival (Toronto), National Theatre School (Montreal), Theatre Smith Gilmour (Toronto), Cork Midsummer Festival (Ireland), Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Scotland), Sydney Festival (Australia), Carrefour international de theatre (Quebec City), and UNO Festival (Victoria, BC). She teaches Jacques Lecoq work nationally including at the National Theatre School, Dalhousie University, Globe Theatre in Regina and the National Arts Centre. She was the inaugural recipient of the Gina Wilkinson Prize for Female Directors and is the former Artistic Associate at the Magnetic North Theatre Festival.

Melissa D'Agostino has presented over 10 live productions, including co-producing and starring in the Toronto Premiere of The Motherfucker with the Hat. She has directed several live productions, including 9/11 The Musical, Flightmare, and a previous collaboration with Adam Lazarus, Wonderland. Melissa was nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award (Lupe: Undone) and recently won a Canadian Screen Award for her performance in the digital series Tactical Girls, which she also co-wrote and produced. Upcoming projects include Season Two of Tactical Girls, the feature film The Female Front, and the weekly talk-show, Hype Night with Mel and Dale.

Jivesh Parasram is a multidisciplinary artist, researcher, and facilitator of Indo-Caribbean descent. He has worked extensively with a wide array of companies and collectives throughout Toronto and Canada. He is a founder and Artistic Producer of Pandemic Theatre, and the Associate Artistic Producer at Theatre Passe Muraille. He was part of the 2016 Cohort of the Cultural Leaders Lab with the Toronto Arts Council and Banff Centre, and is a recipient of two Harold Awards, including the Ken McDougall Award. His work has played to audiences across Canada, Europe, and the Caribbean. Recent: The Only Good Indian (Pandemic), Sound of the Beast (TPM) Upcoming: Take d Milk, Nah? (Pandemic/bcurrent/TPM), Victim Impact (Theatre Conspiracy)

Tom Arthur Davis is the Artistic Director and co-founder Pandemic Theatre. His work has toured across Canada, the United States, and Europe. Artistic residencies include: Canadian Stage, Buddies in Bad Times, and Theatre Passe Muraille. Honours include: a nomination for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama, Best of Fringe & Patron's Pick (Toronto Fringe), Encore Series & Overall Excellence in Solo Performance (FringeNYC), and an honourable mention for the SummerWorks Prize for Production. Upcoming: Take d Milk, Nah? (Pandemic/bcurrent/TPM)

Aislinn Rose is the General Manager of The Theatre Centre, a live arts hub and incubator in Toronto's West Queen West neighbourhood, where she also lives. Her background as a producer is steeped in indie creation. Some of her greatest achievements include touring Praxis Theatre's You Should Have Stayed Home, a piece about mass arrests at the 2010 G20 in Toronto, around the country, including a final performance in Ottawa with Members of Parliament onstage, as well as her work on Liza Balkan's Out The Window, a verbatim performance piece developed in Residency at The Theatre Centre about the beating death of Otto Vass in 2000 at the hands of Toronto police.

Artist Biographies

Company Profiles

About QuipTakeThe goal of a QuipTake production is to provoke and entertain, to showcase the virtuosity of performance and text, and to artistically collide with current ideas and problems bubbling in the zeitgeist. We also attempt to expose and explore a state of confusion.

QuipTake was formed by Adam Lazarus in 2004 as a platform for his own work and as a collective of guest collaborators dedicated to education, mentorship, working with diverse artists, and focusing on social justice.

About Pandemic TheatreFounded in 2009, Pandemic Theatre is a Toronto-based company mandated to create, develop, and produce work from critical and underrepresented perspectives that engage social and political themes. Our work is to challenge the role of aesthetics in a broader ideology. We strive to create spaces where political discourse is not only possible, but encouraged. www.pandemictheatre.ca

About The Theatre CentreThe Theatre Centre is a nationally recognized live-arts incubator that serves as a research and development hub for the cultural sector. We are a public space, open and accessible to the people of our community, where citizens can imagine, debate, celebrate, protest, unite and be responsible for inventing the future.

The Theatre Centre’s mission is to nurture artists, invest in ideas and champion new work and new ways of working. The company fosters a culture of innovation by embracing risk and questioning traditional notions of failure and success.

Post-Show Engagement & 'Zine'

Due to the show’s abrasive subject matter, our touring company can also include additional members to facilitate post-show discussions with members of your community who work in the field of social justice, specifically in the realm of violence against women.

We also offer a free 'zine' (which is punk rock for "magazine") as a way to help contextualize the performance. It includes writing from the creative team, a list of resources, and responses to the piece from various artists.

August, 2016 As a part of SummerWorks Performance FestivalFactory TheatreToronto, Canada

June, 2017As part of the Sibiu International Theatre FestivalTeatrul GongSibiu, Romania

August, 2017 As part of the Kick & Push FestivalGrand TheatreKingston, Canada

November, 2017 The Theatre CentreToronto, Canada

January, 2018 As part of High Performance RodeoVertigo Theatre CentreCalgary, Canada

February, 2018As part of undercurrents FestivalPresented by the National Arts CentreNational Arts Centre, 4th StageOttawa, Canada

August, 2018As part of CanadaHub at the Edinburgh Festival FringePresented in association with Summerhall & Selfconscious Productions King's HallEdinburgh, Scotland

August, 2019As part of Sydney FestivalSydney, Australia

Production History

Partners & Logos

This project has been made possible through the generous support of the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Canada Council for the Arts. It has been supported in part through "The Collaborations - at Canada's National Arts Centre."

The Daughter team has raised partnered with the White Ribbon Campaign, helping to raise $1,000 in support of their work in envisioning healthy relationships with masculinity, promoting gender equality, and ending violence against women and girls.